Electrolytic vaporizer for medicinal purposes



(N o M0de1.)' M. W. GILLAM.

ELECTROLYTIC VAPORIZER FOR MEDICINAL-PURPOSES.

No. 366,164. Patented July 5', 1887.

N. PETERS. Pholoiilhoghphcr. Washington. nc,

' improvements are fully set forth in the follow-.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MANLY M. GILLAM, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ELECTROLYTIC VAPORIZER FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 1 To.366,164, dated July 5, 1887.

Application filed May 29, Serial No. 203,687. (No model.)

.To aZZ whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAKLY M. GILLAM, of the city of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vaporizers for Medicinal Purposes, which ing specification, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to subject a volatile medicinal compound of an electro lytic nature to the action of voltaic or galvanic electricity in an apparatus of such size that it can easily be carried on the person, and

of such form that the vapor arising from such medicinal compound so treated can be con veniently controlled and applied to the nostril, eye, ear, or other part of the body.

The accompanying drawings, which represent a vaporizer of the full size, will give a full comprehension of my invention and the manner of usingit.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the vaporizer. Fig. 2 is an end view, (sectional) Fig. 3 is a vertical section. Fig. 4 is a view of the metallic framework of the core without the absorbent wrapping or packing.

I make a tube of zinc, A, banded with cop per 13, and within it place a tight-fitting core composed of absorbent material wrapped or packed around a coil or spiral of copper wire, G, which passes throughv a perforated zinc disk, D, at each end of the core, and is then bent at right angles, so as to pass along the face of the zinc disk and press against the inner surface of the zinc tube A. The zinc disks fit tightly within the zinc tube. A domeshaped cap, of copper, with a projecting small central tube, E, composed of both zinc and copper and fitted with a removable stopper, cap, or cover, is tightly fastened over one end of the large tube A, and a disk, of zinc, G, hav-' ing a single central opening, is tightly fitted inside and about half an inch from the other end of the large tube, thus leaving a cup, H, at that extremity of the tube. I preferably make the small tube E by tightly incasing a small cylinder, of copper, with one of zinc, having a care that both metals present an even terminal exposure. The cup H is formed by the open end of the cylinder Aprojectiug beyond the zinc disk G. The zinc cylinder at that point is encircled by one of the bands of coppexgand both metals are made to present an even terminal exposure. ing of the zinc disk G is fitted with a thimble, of copper, to give proper bearing to the stopper, cap, or cover with which the aperture is closed. The stoppered disk, of zinc, G and the stoppered dome-shaped cap, of copper, are so arranged as to leave a space between each of them and the perforated zinc disks at the ends of the internal core, thus providingachamber or reservoir, K, at each end of thelarge tube A.

The alternation of zinc and copper in the apparatus is in the nature of a voltaic pile. WVhen grasped in the hand, the moisture of the palm excites galvanic action between the zinc and the copper which compose the tube. Any electrolytic medicinal compound carried by the absorbent material of the core also tends to excite similar action. \Vhen the end either of the small tube E orof the large tube A is made to touch the moist surface of any portion of the body, galvanic action is excited between the zinc and copper which make the contact, and the entire apparatus is thereby measurably effected.

The galvanic or voltaic electricity generated in this apparatus can be plainly felt in the hand and arm of any person who grasps it and who is at all sensitive to the electric current.

I claim as my invention A therapeutic device by means of which a medicinal compound of an electrolytic nature may be subjected to the action of galvanic or voltaic electricity, which device consistsof the body A, having the reservoirs K K, the cup H, the small tube E, the central core with the perforated zinc disks D D, absorbent wrapping or packing, and the central coil of copper, (3, in electric contact with the zinc, and with openings in the body A at each end, having removable stoppers, caps, or covers, substantially as described.

MANLY M. GILLAM.

\Vitnes'scs:

CHAS. O. Sonnnr, A. M. GILLAML The central open- 

